Following on from the success of last year, the excellent Blackthorn Music Festival is back later this month on the 22nd, 23rd and 24th.

The festival’s idyllic surroundings at Whitebottom Farm in Etherow Country Park sit just 30 minutes from Manchester. Over three days it’ll play host to a cracking mix of well-known festival favourites, up and coming bands and slew of exciting tribute acts – all curated to put a big smile on your chops and a wiggle in your walk.

There’s loads of brilliant up and coming acts on the bill too. My favourites include Mancunian neo-post-punkers, Cabbage, bluesy stompers, Sittin’ Pretty, quirky garage rockers, Heavy On The Magic, and jerky noiseniks, Sly Antics (who rather brilliantly describe their sound as like being, “hit hard and repeatedly in the face with a box of stale cereal”). Four bands worth the festival’s (bargain) entry price alone.

Then there’s Slacker Shack favourites, Dub Sex and The Cornelius Crane, who’ll also be performing and ALWAYS deliver without fail.

Add to that at least another 50 quality bands, lots of tip-top scoff and booze, and Blackthorn Music Festival is a great weekend away without the hefty price tag associated with most festivals these days. Day tickets start from just £20, a full weekend ticket is just £55 and to encourage the family vibes, weekend tickets for those under 15 cost just £20 and under 6’s get in for free. What’s not to love?

I love discovering cool, funny and peculiar t-shirts (I’m sat writing this in a Jim’ll Paint It design that still makes me chuckle everytime I slip it on). It’s a dream of mine to open an online shop packed with loads of great finds from artists and designers from across the world one day. But today I’m here to push your peepers towards the t-shirt brilliance contained within one particular print studio based in Truro, Cornwall.

Blackwater Studios have specialised in screen printing t-shirts for more than 40 years and have just launched a great new artist shop. Their idea was to create their own collaborative store with a small selection of talented illustrators from around the world. And more specifically, illustrators who could fully embrace the virtues of single colour prints.

JIMP‘s been on my radar for a few years now and I have one of his originals hanging in my home. He’s a master and I take great pleasure in the superb off-kilter art he consistantly produces. But what’s striking about the Blackwater Studios Artist Shop is how great it is across the board. There’s a certain peculiarity and oddness that permeates all their current designs. Take a look at a few of their t-shirts below: